Opium is air-dried latex obtained by incision from the unripe capsules of Papaver somniferum L (Papaveracae). The opium poppy was known as an analgesic and sedative more than a thousand years BC. Opium containes a large number of alkaloids. Four of them have attained wide medicinal use: morphine, codeine, papaverine and noscapine. Opium is used as a raw material for preparing alkaloids which can be also produced by direct extraction from the capsules. Morphine is the main alkaloid of opium (10-20%). It is used as a very effective analgesic, but it is classified as a narcotic. Opium is a highly addictive narcotic drug which is used for production of heroin.